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    [RC] Critical Thinking/The six rules of evidential reasoning /was pet communicators - Tamara Woodcock


    You have nothing to lose except a little bit
    of money.

    Karla


    Hmm.. That would be the key wouldn't it? Nothing to lose but money indeed! Pay someone $90 to sit on a phone in their home, gleefully balancing their now-bulging checkbooks, pretending to channel/commune with/feel the vibes of my lost cat/horse/dog/parrot? This is why "psychics" drive nice cars and I drive a near-junker. If I was just a bit less honest and able to keep a straight face while telling hilarious lies...

    What's up with critical thinking? Pet communicators? I mourn the loss of reason in America today... As a refresher of what we should have learned in high school, here is a quick guide to critical thinking:

    The Six Rules of Evidential Reasoning (admittedly stolen from somehwere, but I can't find from where it was stolen)

    1) Falsifiability: It must be possible to conceive of evidence that would prove the claim false.
    2) Logic: Any argument offered as evidence in support of any claim must be sound.
    3) Comprehensiveness: The evidence offered in support of any claim must be exhaustive -- that is all of the available evidence must be considered.
    4) Honesty: The evidence offered in support of any claim must be evaluated without self-deception.
    5) Replicability: If the evidence for any claim is based upon an experimental result, or if the evidence offered in support of any claim could logically be explained as coincidental, then it is necessary for the evidence to be repeated in subsequent experiments or trials.
    6) Sufficiency: The evidence offered in support of any claim must be adequate to establish the truth of that claim, with these stipulations: the burden of proof for any claim rests on the claimant, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, and evidence based upon authority and/or testimony is always inadequate for any paranormal claim.


    The evidence for belief in pet communicators cannot, has not, (and IMO, will never, pass these tests... $90 better spent on bridle id tags and microchipping.

    -Tamara, (who actually does waste a tiny bit of time worrying about the fact that a a wire service report telling of a psychic who located a cat lost in an airplane baggage compartment is actually considered "news" and goes unchallenged by either the reporters of said story or the readers/believers)

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